Apple Polisher by Heidi Belleau

Hey everyone,

I promised the posts would be more regular from now on! This week I went back to one of my favourite sub-genres of romance, contemporary m/m. I finally started a series that I have been wanting to read for SO long, and I'm not going to lie I'm already on book two! Today, however, I want to focus on Apple Polisher by Heidi Belleau the first in the Rear Entrance Video Book series.

The book:

Christian Blake dreams of being a kindergarten teacher, but making the grade means maintaining a squeaky clean image: no drinking, no drugs, no swearing, no sex. And definitely no falling for his new roommate-tattooed bad-boy Max, who may or may not be a drug dealer.

Most of all, it means no working at a porn store. But Christian's aunt has cancer, and her beloved Rear Entrance Video will go bankrupt if Christian doesn't take over managerial duties. Soon enough, Christian finds himself juggling sticky twenty-five cent peep show booths, a blackmailing employee, and a demanding professor who likes to make an example of him.

And then there's Max, who doesn't know anything about the store, but hates Christian's preppy sweater vests and the closet Christian forces him into when they're together. Max just wants Christian to be himself-even though Max is keeping secrets of his own. Christian struggles to find the impossible balance between his real life and the ideal one he thinks a teacher needs to live . . . all while trying to keep his aunt's dream alive without losing his own.

My thoughts:

For me this book was about discovery. Both Christian personal journey of self-discovery and his discovery into those around him. In the beginning Christian does come across as a little judgemental; he assumes one of his new housemates is a drug dealer with very little evidence. He's also completely paranoid about the image he projects to the outside world, partly due to his relationship with his mother.

"And I was fucking angry with her. You know, because I was gay I was some kind of socially damaged pervert pedophile and I'd never amount to anything, and I was sick".

Yet he did slowly grow on me, partly because he starts to think about those around him and decides to put their needs before his own. A large part of this transformation is due to Max, a character I wish we'd been given more information about, his backstory, his job, his motives. Max challenges Christian conceptions and actions, pushing him to be a better person.

"Please what, Christian? You want my approval? You're not going to fucking get it. There's nothing worth what you're giving up right now. I though you were crazy when it was just the beer and the clothes. Now it's your family, too."

At times I felt the pace was a little fast, especially with everything happening in Christian and Max's life. Plus as a reader we are introduced to a whole cast of new characters, that I imagine we'll here more about in the following books. I felt like some plot lines where introduced but not really embellished to full potential, one in particular towards the end just happened with little explantation or follow through.

Overall though I really enjoyed Apple Polisher and as Heidi Belleau is becoming one of my favourite authors I'm definitely going to continue with the Rear Entrance Video series.

My rating:

Happy reading everyone and see you next time!